


A Glittering Mist

by Aurum18



Category: Alex Rider (TV 2020), Alex Rider - Anthony Horowitz
Genre: Angst, Canon Compliant, Gen, Grief/Mourning, Hopeful Ending, Hugs, Pre-Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-08
Updated: 2020-09-08
Packaged: 2021-03-07 01:53:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,906
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26359015
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aurum18/pseuds/Aurum18
Summary: Kyra has nowhere to turn after she says her last goodbye to Alex...or does she?(!! SHOW SPOILERS !!)
Relationships: Alex Rider & Kyra Vashenko-Chao, Kyra Vashenko-Chao & Laura, Kyra Vashenko-Chao/Laura
Comments: 3
Kudos: 15





	A Glittering Mist

Kyra had nowhere to go. No one to turn to. She'd always felt on the edge, like she didn't fit in, like nobody noticed she was there and if they did, she was sure they'd be talking crap about her the moment her back was turned. She had often, in her darker hours, felt like she was completely alone. 

And now she really was.

It had tasted bitter in her throat, choking her. The others from Point Blanc had one by one gone home- with each of them that disappeared the sense of something being wrong had grown and swelled and left her chest tighter and tighter until she was the only one left.

Laura had been the last one to leave. Kyra hadn't much liked her when they were at Point Blanc, with the charade of a school still in place. She was too bubbly, her smile too bright, her bearing too confident, a popular girl- not on Kyra's level at all. They'd barely spoken to each other. Laura preferred to hang out with James anyway, James who liked to laugh about Kyra having no emotions. He had been joking, that's just who he was, but it had still stung.

Laura had said something though, that day when Alex had arrived,

_'I think she prefers machines to people'._

Kyra had been shocked because Laura had hit the nail right on the head. That was when she had realised that Laura had layers, masks. She cared and underneath her sunshine smiles and soft giggles, she was a person just like Kyra. Had feelings just like Kyra. James' following remark about Kyra being a machine had barely even processed.

Still it had really shaken her after everything that had happened when she'd followed Alex's instructions and gone to the cells, still somewhat numb and not quite there from finding out that he wasn't actually dead, and had seen Laura. Her face was painted with tear tracks, her eyes puffy, her hair a mess. She hadn't been glowing then, quite the opposite. The others had ran to the bars first but she'd hung behind , looked afraid, like she was scared this wasn't real and was all too resigned to disappointment. James, who Kyra had really grown closer to when they were trying to escape the school, had demanded to know what was going on. They'd seen Alex get taken. They were wondering where he was now. Kyra had unlocked the door, explained everything (they had all looked quite shell shocked at who Alex was, what he had done, she didn't blame them- it was hard to compute the utter dumbass with also being a badass) and then she had led them to the laundry room, very cautiously, to hide.

Kyra remembered, whilst doing this, she couldn't help but notice Laura. The sharp contrast between her and the clone was beyond startling. Kyra had known Laura as devil may care with a smile that shone ridiculously bright but the clone had been cold, calculating. Had known exactly where to dig to make it hurt. Walked with a different kind of purpose to the Laura she had known. Looking at Laura then though, Kyra had kicked herself all the more for not immediately realising that the clone was a different person. Laura was traumatised. She was shaking. On the way, a door had slammed somewhere in the school and everybody had tensed (Kyra included) but Laura had jumped and her face- her _face_. 

Alex had been strapped to a table next to instruments of torture. What had Grief and Stellenbosch done to Laura and the others?

The group of them had waited in the laundry room for an indeterminate amount of time. They were hiding as best as they could in the corner. Kyra, who at that moment had been the least vulnerable of the bunch , had been at the front of the huddle on guard. Laura was the furthest into the corner next to Sasha, she was barely visible except for some quivering hair and the occasional muffled sob.

There had been noises of a struggle going on constantly whilst they waited but then there had been a huge explosion from somewhere below that had shook the room and that had been terrifying, terrifying. Made all the worse by knowing that it must have been the basement and that was where they just had come from. Parker Roscoe beside her had flinched so hard he'd elbowed Kyra in the side. Even James, who always kept up such a show of being invulnerable, had let out a panicked gasp. Sasha and Laura barely knew each other but Kyra remembered looking back and they had been clinging to each other in a tight hug, like if they let go it would be the end of the world.

It had felt like an eternity later when a woman with a British accent in snow coloured camouflage had come in with a gun. The gun had lowered just before she'd spoken and the relief when the woman had said 'Alex says hello' had made Kyra lightheaded.

Alex, against all odds, had wormed his way into Kyra's heart and she had been shocked when , for the first time in what felt like forever, she felt someone was her _friend_. The hours clutching that walkie-talkie had been the longest night of her life. Then, when Stellenbosch had announced he was dead- she had felt like her heart had been ripped out of her chest. 

The relief she had felt when she had heard Alex's voice come through the device was the strongest she had ever felt and left her stunned, like she'd been hit by a truck. She had thought she was dreaming at first. The relief at hearing he'd survived the raid on Point Blanc came in close second though.

The woman had introduced herself as Eagle and had led them to the entrance hall, Laura just behind her and Kyra leading up the back. Their clones had been there. On their knees, zip-tied, glaring at them. Pure evil in their gazes. Kyra's mouth had dropped open as her own duplicate caught her gaze. She looked exactly like her. Right down to her clothes and hair. It was beyond unsettling. It would haunt her nightmares for a long time to come.

After that, they had gone to a base somewhere else in France via a large military helicopter. There had been no sign of Alex. 

They had been debriefed seperately then the others had been collected one by one and that was where Kyra first had the sickly suspicion that something had happened to her parents. Something bad.

Laura had been collected by an unsmiling man who had the look of a butler or something similar. Kyra knew the look of someone paid to do a job that your parents either couldn't or didn't want to and she also recognised the disappointment and resignation that had been on Laura's face when he'd arrived. She had been about to leave the room with him and walk out of Kyra's life when she had suddenly stopped and turned back.

There had been something in her eyes. It was hard to define, something like desperation, half wild but also soft too. She had rushed over to Kyra ignoring the man's protests. 

And then, to Kyra's utter shock, she had hugged her.

She was delicate but warm. She smelt of tears and cinnamon. Her hair had been soft against Kyra's cheek. She was slightly shorter than Kyra and when she had pulled back she looked up. 

'If you want to talk' Laura had said, slightly shrunken in on herself. 'If you ever need anything, please- please call me.'

A scrap of paper had been pressed tightly into Kyra's hand then the girl had nodded to herself and looked right at her.

'Thank you' Laura had said and then she was gone.

Kyra had then been moved to a house in London. The journey there was a blur. Thoughts whirling as she suspected the truth.

Kyra sat ,numb, through the news of her parents' passing. 

By the time the agent- John he had called himself- had said that there had been an accident she had already known.

She was, for the first time, completely alone. 

It was all her fault. She'd escaped from the school with no regard for anyone but herself. Selfish, stupid. Why did she always have to be so despicable? She was smart enough to know the consequences yet she had ignored them.

The two people she knew more than anyone else on the earth. Dead. Gone. Because of Kyra.

The agent had tried to argue with her, tried to make her feel better. But she knew. She had told him to shut up. Twice.

Not a people person, another example. She just couldn't stop could she? Stuck in a vicious cycle that had decided it hadn't claimed enough already and now had killed her parents.

Her parents had always been distant but deep down she knew they cared about her and, though she didn't like to admit it, she loved them, they were all she had. 

The stock exchange hack, the reason she had been sent to Point Blanc in the first place had been dumb. Stupid. Immature. A way to catch their attention. Also a way to prove how clever she was to herself and to anyone else who'd listen. 

Whatever way she looked at it, it was her fault. 

Kyra had sat on that bed and decided she wanted a way out. She was sick of false condolences, these 'intelligence' agents who were anything but intelligent. She had remembered Laura, remembered how her sudden hug had left her too shocked to react. She had considered the agent, the man was very obviously awkward with having to deal with emotions. She had remembered the keycard he had pocketed as he came in. He wouldn't need it as he left. She had known she would have plenty of time to make her escape.

Kyra had darted forwards and hugged him. He had been shocked as she expected but clearly had written it down as 'teenage girl emotions' or whatever the hell suits like that classified these things as. Where Laura had took advantage of the hug to slip a number into her hand, Kyra snuck the key card out of his pocket.

After that she had got the hell out of dodge, found a library and used a computer to look up where Alex Rider went to school. Kyra didn't have much on her (only Laura's number tucked into a pocket and a washer that had been used to jam a lock) but she managed to take advantage of rush hour and sneak on some buses to get to Brookland.

She had found Alex on a bench, talking to a boy his age with a head of curly hair tucked into a beanie. She had been extremely glad to see Alex, at least, was okay. That they hadn't lied to her. 

He had looked shocked when he spotted her and quickly excused himself to hurry over.

Kyra noticed in their chat that he seemed calm, collected. He was pretending nothing had happened. He admitted to her that he liked how things were before, she could relate to that but...she couldn't pretend nothing had happened. Her heart twisted and throbbed painfully with every beat it took.

Kyra had asked in a moment of weakness what he would do if he never found out what had happened to his uncle. Never got revenge.

She wanted revenge. She wanted to find who had killed her parents and make them _suffer_ , whatever it took. But she also knew it was a fantasy. She had nothing right now. No resources to find out what she needed to know anyway.

She had given Alex the washer. She didn't know exactly why. Only that she cared about him, he was the only friend she had and she didn't want him to forget her. Kyra would never forget him.

She found out Alex didn't know about her parents. He was so soft, so pure. He seemed untainted by the poison of the world even though Kyra knew better. It was nice to know he'd always be a bit of a dumbass though. That some things never changed.

Kyra doesn't tell him. She doesn't want to see the pity and she just doesn't have the heart.

'You've got me' he had said anyway and something swelled in Kyra. Something painful, something sharp, it felt a lot like love. It also felt like mockery.

She couldn't stay with him. He had his own problems, his own life. Kyra didn't belong in his world. The reason they had met was because of the very agency that was hunting her down right now. The agency she was sure wouldn't allow her to do what needed to be done.

Kyra had excused herself with a lame joke and here she was now. Walking away, trying her best not to let any tears escape from her eyes. Trembling until she had got out of sight. 

What was she going to do now?

She had no money. No connections. Nothing. Only a fragile, petty plan of vengeance.

Kyra took one shaky breath after another until she was far enough from Alex's school that she didn't have to worry about MI6 and sunk onto a bench, tilted her head back and looked at the sky.

Nothing felt real anymore.

The sky was huge, massive, beautiful. Ethereal clouds slowly drifted across the deep expanse of blue. How could something so breathtaking exist in a world such as this?

A plane cut its way across her view, leaving a scar of emissions in its wake.

Kyra squeezed her eyes shut then looked back down at her hands. 

So, what was she going to do? It was obvious really. Kyra hated herself for even considering dragging her into her mess but she was the only choice she had left.

She couldn't turn to Alex, he was too tied up with MI6 and they knew that she had been close to him at the school, they would keep a close eye on him.

Laura though. Kyra had barely spoken to Laura in her time at Point Blanc, MI6 were unlikely to chase the girl up too much in their search for Kyra. They also didn't know she had her number.

Kyra pulled the scrap of paper out her pocket. Looked at it. Her handwriting was messy but sweet somehow. The number was written in blue pen, the paper crumpled. She remembered the warmth of Laura's hand as she had pressed it into hers. The look in her dark eyes as she had told Kyra to call her if she ever needed anything.

Kyra bit her lip. Then got up and set about finding access to a phone. There was no one else to turn to. She hoped she would not regret this.

\---

The next day Kyra was waiting on a bench down the Thames path.

Laura had answered the phone on the second ring. Her voice had been shaky like she had been crying but once she had realised it was Kyra talking she had sounded happy, almost like her old self.

Kyra had asked after her, made small talk checked she was okay- Laura had made a joke and, shocking herself, Kyra had laughed. It was somewhat hysterical, but a laugh nonetheless. She hadn't laughed in a long while.

Feeling selfish, Kyra had explained her situation. Laura had seemed to understand, a million times better than that agent. Not for the first time, Kyra found herself wondering about Laura. What had happened in her life? Why she had learnt to hide under a smile? 

Laura had offered Kyra a place to stay. She didn't live in the UK but had booked the first available flight over to collect her. 

Kyra wondered how Laura was so kind, so empathetic, so selfless. The very opposite of herself. Kyra didn't deserve this. She had actually tried to argue, feeling like she'd made a mistake, like the guiltiest person on earth (no, no, I'll be okay-) but Laura had shut that down, suddenly fierce.

They had arranged a meeting place and that was where Kyra was now.

She had been here a while now and the Thames had swollen. The sun was sparkling, reflected in the water. London City Airport could be seen the far side of the water.

Kyra still didn't feel quite real. She felt like she was on another plane of reality and her body was a dead weight. A mantra repeated in her mind: _my parents are dead_.

'Kyra!' 

Not sure how much time had passed, she started at the sudden call and looked to her left. And there was Laura.

She was dressed differently to when she had last seen her, that had been a couple of days ago now. But she was unmistakably Laura.

Her hair shone in the sunlight as she rushed towards her in a parody of the base in France, her eyes were wide and sparkling, her lips stretched into a smile.

There were dark circles under her eyes, her skin looked a sallow yellow and her lips looked half bitten to death but she was beautiful.

Kyra smiled back.

Maybe, just maybe, everything would turn out okay.

**Author's Note:**

> I have barely any reason to ship them but I do....oops. I hope the relationship tags worked because I am the first 😱 Anyways they make me feel so soft and they both deserve the world. Title is from Living Dead, Marina. Please tell me what you think, if you enjoyed :)
> 
> a playlist for them just because:   
> https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0VYfa4E2DF35MRCfsSGshJ?si=5EuBz_AFSz6fXXIFKh6t0Q


End file.
